


Red to the Sky

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soul Threads [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 09:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7709653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmates are rare.  They can be identified by a connection, which appears to some psychics to be a red thread.  Missouri Moseley was one of those psychics, and she thought she'd seen it all.</p><p>Then she met the Winchester boys.  Dean was normal enough until the fire, but Sam... Sam's thread defied explanation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red to the Sky

Tradition dictated that when a child was born, one of their first visitors would be a Red Spinner. A psychic who could see the red threads that bound certain souls together and help their bearers find their soulmates. Most children didn’t have threads. Half the time the threads just hung loosely, indicating that the soulmate wasn’t born yet. And sometimes, the threads were unusual.

When Dean was born, Missouri Moseley was pleased to report that Dean had a thread dangling from his soul. He would have a soulmate, eventually, but not yet. John and Mary were all smiles, cuddling their son and promising him great things for his future.

When Sam was born, Missouri stared at him in profound confusion. She looked up to the ceiling, staring at it as though she wished she could see through it, and then back to John and Mary. “I don’t know what to say, John. There is a thread, but…”

“But what?” Mary looked at her younger son, fear in her eyes.

“It’s reaching straight up. I never seen anything like it, but I’ll ask around. See if I can get you some answers on that.” 

Six months later, Mary died in a fire. Missouri came to help the family out, and once again, she stared at Sam in confusion.

“Still no answers on Sammy’s thread?” Dean pulled Sammy in a little closer.

Missouri reached out, touching Sam’s chest, and moved her hand toward Dean. “Sammy’s gotten even more confusing. Where’s your father?”

“Outside.” Dean pointed to the window, where John was visible talking to two men in suits. “What’s wrong with Sammy?”

“Nothing. Dean, you listen to me good, okay? I know I don’t have to tell you to take care of your little brother, but I’m going to anyway. You and him, stick together no matter what.” Missouri turned and went outside to find John.

John didn’t like hearing that his sons had grown a new thread, one that bound them together. It was blue, not red, but like Sam’s thread to the sky, Missouri didn’t know what that meant. Once again, she promised to find answers if she could. It was twenty years before Missouri saw the boys again.

She could tell right away that the blue thread was strained. So she went a little harder on Dean than she might have otherwise. But as she watched, she saw that the strain on the blue thread was healing nicely, quickly becoming stronger than ever. Dean’s red thread was taut now. He didn’t know who held the other end, because he’d honestly forgotten he had it. Sam’s red thread still reached to the sky.

“You really have no idea?” Sam looked up, trying to understand what it could mean.

Missouri shook her head. “I don’t know, boy. Been trying to get you an answer since the day you were born, but nobody knows anything about it. No one’s ever seen anything like it. I did get an answer on the thread connecting you and your brother, though.”

“What thread?” Sam’s eyes got huge. “Dean and I are…”

“You’re soulmates, but not like normal ones. Blue, not red. It’s a different type of bond, one the two of you forged yourselves instead of being given. Which means it can snap, which would hurt you both beyond fixing even with your red threads. You and Dean need to take care of your bond.”

“That… wow. I guess that’s how he saved my life.” Sam looked over to Dean. “Can you tell him? I’d really rather not be the one…”

“Of course, honey.”

Dean took it pretty well. It’s not like he ever needed to be told to take care of Sam. He declined Missouri’s help in finding his other soulmate, they had too much to do with tracking their dad, he didn’t want to lose focus. Then it was Azazel, then he was dying and what was the point?

Sam knew the second he saw Dean that Dean had sold his soul, because he could feel the tug in his own soul. It drove him, made him determined to save his brother however he could. He failed. He sought out a Red Spinner almost immediately, who confirmed what Sam thought: death hadn’t broken the bond. A part of his soul was being pulled down into Hell. The red thread up… Pamela had no idea what to make of it.

Sam knew the second Dean came back, as well. The relentless tug downward stopped. When Dean found him, he couldn’t explain how or why he was back, so Sam took him to Pamela. Pamela agreed to scry for whatever it was, using the mark on Dean’s arm. She found the thing – “Castiel” – and fought through his defense to see what he was. “What the…” Pamela’s question was cut off by screaming as her eyes began to melt.

“What did you see?” Sam asked as he helped Pamela to a chair.

Pamela shook her head. “Not much. Bright. Sam… your thread. The red one. Right before I broke through Castiel’s screen, it collapsed. I wish I could see it now, see what’s going on.”

Sam wondered, too. He had more pressing concerns, finding Castiel and working with Ruby to get strong enough to take on Lilith. And then fighting with Dean about working with Ruby, and learning that Castiel was an angel.

When he entered the room to find two strange men there, Sam reacted as he’d been trained. Gun out, challenge issued, ready to fight or run as needed.

“Sam, wait!” Dean pushed his gun down. “Sammy, this is Castiel.”

“The angel?” Sam put the gun away. “Oh my god. I… sorry, I mean… I’ve just heard so much about you!” He held out his hand.

Castiel turned around slowly. “And I, you.” He stopped, staring curiously at Sam, but didn’t say anything more.

“What are you doing here, Cas?” Dean asked.

Castiel turned his gaze to Dean and explained: he had come, along with his companion Uriel, to smite the town to protect a seal. Dean fought, as did Sam, and Castiel agreed to give them a day to flush out the witch and stop the summoning. They failed, and Sam broke his promise to Dean. He used his powers to save his brother from Samhain.

“Today’s a big anniversary for you, isn’t it, Sam?” Sam spun around from packing to see Uriel standing close, smirking at him. “You were told not to use your powers.”

“But Dean…”

“You were told.”

“And you were told to let me handle this. Your only role here was to smite the town if Dean chose that path. Leave us.” Castiel appeared, placing himself between Sam and Uriel.

“But…”

“You were told. Now leave us.” Castiel raised his hand. “I will not warn you again.” Uriel left, and Castiel turned to Sam. “I apologize. I have no idea what Uriel was thinking.”

“I know you guys don’t want me using my powers, but Dean was going to die. Even with the knife…”

Castiel nodded. “I know. Don’t return to the path you were on. But I think you know that.”

“Then why are you here?” If he wasn't here to threaten Sam, what could Castiel want with him?

“Sam, have you ever visited a Red Spinner?”

“A few times. Do you remember Pamela Barnes? You burned her eyes out?”

Castiel sighed. “I did try to warn her. I didn’t want to hurt her, but seeing an angel in our true form is deadly and I had not yet taken a vessel. I was working on it when she broke through. Had I not resisted, she would likely have died.”

“So yes, I know I’m bound to Dean. And I know that my red thread is… weird. No one’s been able to tell me why.”

“If someone were to look now, it would appear perfectly normal. As would mine.”

“Yours? Angels have soulmates?”

“It’s… we’re certainly not supposed to, seeing as we don’t have souls. But I do. Which is why your thread would have done something strange, as it reached to Heaven.”

“What?” Sam stared at Castiel in confusion.

Castiel held up a hand. “With your permission, I can allow you to see your threads. So that you can see for yourself.”

“No, I… I believe you.” He did. On the other hand, he’d always been curious. “But show me anyway?”

Castiel nodded and touched two fingers to Sam’s forehead. Two threads came into view, one red stretching between Sam and Castiel, the blue stretching off in the direction of Dean. The blue one looked a little frayed, but strong all the same.

“Wow.” The threads faded. “So what does this mean? You’re an angel.”

“We don’t know. No other angel has a red thread. In part, it may have served its purpose already, keeping you out of Hell despite your connection to Dean not being severed when he went. What do you want it to mean?”

“I don’t… I’m still getting used to the idea of having an angel as a soulmate. Honestly, just getting my head around that’s going to take a while. I hope it means that you don’t hate me. I kind of… things seemed a little weird yesterday.”

“I apologize. I was caught off-guard at discovering who my thread belonged to. Millennia of wondering finally at an end.”

“What about your vessel?”

“Jimmy has passed on to Heaven. He and I agreed that there must be a reason for me to be here, and that I would need the freedom of an empty vessel. When her time comes, his wife will join him there, and his daughter will have to work extremely hard to lose her salvation.”

“Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Still leaves us to figure out what the hell we’re doing.”

Castiel shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. Somehow.”

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this post from theoriginaldarkside on Tumblr:
> 
> Soulmates are connected by a thin red thread, and only very few psychics can see them. Whenever Sam and Dean would come across such a psychic, they would look at Sam, profoundly confused, before looking up into the sky, disbelief plainly written on their face.  
> Sam never understood why they did it, until he met Castiel and realized his red thread must have extended beyond earth and into heaven.


End file.
